The Crumbling Orb
by LimeEmil
Summary: Ichigo finishes his battle with Aizen, but he gets an unexpected addition to his soul and keeps his powers for his wish to protect. AU after Aizen, Super!Hougyoku!Ichigo
1. Chapter 1

Chapter uno: Latching on

**"Mugetsu"** Ichigo muttered and swung his arm down, annihilating everything in his path, destroying the landscape and his enemy with it, covering it all in his black reiatsu. But through the darkness that enveloped him, shone a light, small, barely conceivable light that approached him; quickly and desperately.

As the light reached him, it floated into him, disappearing from sight. And as the veil of black cleared, there was no Aizen, just a gargantuan crevice in the ground, spanning for miles.

Ichigo fell on the ground with a thump, exhausted after using the one attack that could destroy Aizen once and for all, but in exchange for his powers vanishing; but… this was not the case, he still felt the presence of his Zanpakuto and Hollow lingering in his mind.

'Erm… _Guys? Shouldn't we be losing our powers now?'_ Ichigo mentally spoke to his Hollow and Zanpakuto.

"**No idea Kingy"** his Hollow said "I've no clue either, Ichigo" Tensa Zangetsu said in agreement, but before anyone said anything else, the soft giggle of a child was heard INSIDE Ichgio's mind, startling all of its previous inhabitants. 'Huh?' **"What?" **_"Who's there!?"_

"_That would be me~!" _the voice of a gleeful little girl sounded within his mind, as he was suddenly pulled into his Mindscape of sideways skyscrapers, back to how it was before he descended into despair, to be greeted by a purple blur, coupled with wild giggling as he was tackled to the ground as he entered. "Gah!" was all he could get out as he crashed on the blue skyscraper.

The purple little blur was a giggling little girl who barely reached Ichigos midsection in height, with silky purple hair and a silver butterfly and flower Pin tucking in her hair behind her right ear, her eyes shifting between all kinds of purple while gleaming in glee and a smile splitting her pale face, as she looked up at the bewildered face of Ichigo. She wore an indigo Yukata with a white butterfly pattern on it and a white Obi to go along with it.

"Wha?!" Ichigo got out "What's going on?!" he asked as he calmed down enough to make coherent sentences, still shocked by the fact that there was somehow another spirit inside his soul. The Hollow(let's call him Shiro for future convenience) was laughing and spluttering on the side of another of the blue skyscrapers, while Tensa was just smirking at Ichigos situation.

"Hey shut up Shiro! You've got nothing to laugh about" Ichigo shouted to his opposite. **"Yes I do Kingy!" **he says as he finally gets himself under control and leans on Tensa's shoulder for support, **"Cause you, possibly the most powerful being ever known, is being tackled down by a little girl!"** he shouted back as he went for another bout of insane cackling, causing a tick mark to appear on Ichigos forehead, sighing, letting it go for now.

He looked down at the child that's spread across his torso, still hugging him tightly from her previous tackle, and still smiling up at him.

"So, who are you anyway?" he asked the child as he propped himself up on his left elbow, letting his right hand pass over the little girls head, stroking her hair gently. She nuzzled into the touch and giggled as he closed her eyes; and opened them again after a moment as a sad expression came over her.

"_Well… how do I put this…?"_ she had pulled up to a sitting position and turned herself a bit so she was sitting on his lap, she was furrowing her brow with a small pout to make her look cute, _"alright, I'll put it bluntly. I'm the Hogyoku."_ She said simply as she looked away, expecting a violent reaction.

"W**H**AT**!**?"

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A/N, Sorry, No New Chapter yet, just fixing some issues I had with this chapter in continuation with the next one... Promise by the end of next month, I will have something before then... so PLEASE DON'T KILL ME! Please?


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N, WARNING: This Chapter contains Fluff to some degree, leave if you do not wish to be cuddled to death! *Laughs Evilly*.**_

Chapter Dos: Coming to Terms

The Trio of spiritual beings looked at the little girl sitting on Ichigos lap, eyes wide, her proclamation throwing them off.

'She is the Hogyoku?' Ichigo thought in slight panic, 'then why is she here?!'

"_Jeez, no need to yell about it!"_ she yelled at them after their outburst, seemingly off-put by their reactions.

"But…" Ichigo trailed off, not being able to come up with which question to ask first, thankfully…

"Why are you here?" Tensa finished for him, directing their second question at her.

"_Well…"_ She trailed off as she looked up to The black clad teen, _"I like Ichi more than Aizen… plus I might have died if I didn't, so I latched onto the best possible person,"_ she said and looked down to Ichigo again, _"Ichigo, you're stronger than Aizen was, that is why I'm here… and you are a great person from what I've seen and heard while I was with Aizen… I'd rather fulfill the wish of someone pure. Someone like you,"_ she finished with a gentle, yet hard look, her eyes shimmering with determination as a smile crossed her face.

Ichigo couldn't help but let a gentle smile cross his face as she looked down at him. His 'big brother' instincts kicking in, he held her close as he sat up, "So… what do we do now?" he asked as he looked over to Tensa and Shiro, "Any ideas?"

"**Eh, I dunno Kingy"** Shiro said as he sat down on the ledge of a sideways building, **"maybe we should get out now, I think yer friends are coming around…"** he continued as he glanced down at the two spirits.

"Alright" Ichigo began as he started standing up, but not before settling the little girl on the ground next to him, "I guess I'll see you in a little while" he finished as he stood up, "but before that… maybe we should give you a new name?" he went as he kneeled before the Hogyoku spirit.

"_Hmm… I guess you're right Ichi, Hogyoku is a little long…"_ the young spirit trailed off.

"Well…" he trailed off as he reached up a hand to touch the hair pin in the young ones hair, "How about… Chohana?" he suggested in reference to her pin.

The little spirit smiled at the new name she'd been given, _"Butterfly Flower… I like it!"_ she squealed and hugged her new friend around the neck, _"thank you, Ichi,"_ she said softly into Ichigos ear before letting him go and ran over to the other two spirits, both of whom actually looked happy for once, even Shiro adorned a soft smile and gentle look in his eyes as he saw the new addition to Ichigos soul run up to them.

"Bye guys, I'll see you later…" Ichigo said as he faded back into the soul society.

Ichigo opened his eyes to be greeted by the site of two clog clad feet walking towards him.

"Looks like you're up, Ichigo," stated the all-too familiar voice of Mr. Hat'n'Clogs, Kisuke Urahara.

"Oh, Shut up Hat'n'Clogs," Ichigo replied with no venom in his voice as he rolled over on his back, "I just destroyed the largest threat to Soul Society and-" he cut himself off as he noticed his appearance.

He was wearing a tattered white trench coat, open at the middle to show his White bandaged chest and proceeding to wrap around his right arm up his neck to hide the lower part of his face, with an open purple under shirt, both formfitting except for the very end of the sleeves which flared out in tatters (A/N, like his Bankai coat combined with The Final Getsuga Tensho Wrappings using different coloring and being open in the front), and the regular hakama pants being of similar coloring, but he was wearing nothing for his feet, being completely barefoot.

Around his neck hung a necklace with an uneven set of pearls that gradually got larger towards the middle where the Hogyoku resided, shining a royal purple.

His orange hair cascaded down his back (A/N, slightly rougher Vers. of his Final Hollow form, somewhat reminiscent of the last filler arcs (A/N, can't remember its name (A/N, Author-noteception... too soon?)) version when he faced Kageroza), randomly streaked with purple and black. Then he noticed something about his skin... there were barely visible red, black, yellow and purple veins pulsing and glowing under his skin, he couldn't see his face, but he felt the yellow glow radiating around his eyes.

'Chohana? Did you do this?' he mentally asked the little spirit, somewhat confused as he took in his new appearance.

"_Well… yeah, had to add my own touch right?"_ She asked back from within his inner world.

'I suppose… well atleast you didn't turn me into a butterfly or anything,' Ichigo thought back to her and she giggled slightly and the faint echo of insane cackling of his hollow opposite could be heard in his mindscape.

"_You might want to stop staring at yourself though,"_ the young spirit said, _"My creator might think you're weird…"_ she trailed off

'But considering the guy is slightly insane…' Ichigo thought back.

"_Yeah, he has no room to talk,"_ she shot right back.

"Well, well, Ichigo. Looks like you got yourself a new appearance," Kisuke said with an unusual seriousness in his voice, "What happened?" he questioned as he firmly held his sealed Benihime.

"Well, Urahara, seems the Hogyoku took up residence with me," Ichigo said without hesitation, Urahara looked at him with a comically deadpan expression, "Unbelievable, right?" Ichigo asked, quirking an eyebrow at the odd man.

"Yes, it is quite unbelievable… and to think I put all that work into making a seal for the guy," he said with a sad chuckle, as he took out his favorite hat from in under his reverse captains-haori and put it in its rightful place, covering his eyes in his trademark shadow.

"Wait… you were going to seal him?" Ichigo asked, a little bit stunned by the revelation.

"_Of course you would do that,"_ muttered the voice of Chohana, materializing with her little arms around Ichigos neck (A/N, Think Yachiru and Kenpachi), _"part of the reason I jumped over to Ichi!"_ she squealed with joy as she buried her head in Ichigos neck. Urahara seemed greatly confused, yet highly amused by his former pupil's current position.

"Well, well, look who's popular," Urahara joked with a smug smirk, he was going to tease the crap out of Ichigo for this later… and he was going to enjoy _every_ second of it, "So? Mind telling me who the kid is?" he asked going back to a slightly more serious demeanor, but still laughing his ass off on the inside and having a vague idea.

"Well as you might have guessed, Urahara, she is what would be known as the Hogyoku," he said as his hand gently stroked her purple locks, "Me, Shiro, the hollow; and Tensa like to call her Chohana though." He continued with a distant look clouding his eyes for a moment as he watched Chohana from the corner of his eye, before looking back to Urahara, "Well, now you have your proof, Mr. Hat'n'clogs..." He trailed off as Urahara knelt down next to him and looked at Chohana.

"I knew the Hogyoku had a will of its own..." He trailed off as his eyes took on a glazed look, as if thinking deeply, "But I never my experiments would result in an artificial symbiotic spirit," He continued as a small smile came upon his face, "and to think... I was just trying to break the borders between beings," He said as he turned his gaze to Ichigo, "but I see that I created a Perfect Hybrid in the process" he finished with a wide grin.

"Wait... what do you mean by 'Perfect Hybrid'?" Ichigo questioned with a raised eyebrow as the veins around his eyes burned red for a few moments before going back to yellow.

"Ah, yes, I'm guessing your father never told you about his past... or how he met your mother?" he said as he took on a solemn expression, Ichigo's eyes widened for a second before going back to a more controlled expression, "What do you mean?" the teen demanded.

Urahara sighed, feeling his mental age for one of the many times during this Aizen business, "I guess we should find him so he can explain it to you himself... God knows he should have told you a long time ago" Urahara spoke as he rose up to his full height and offered a hand to the extremely powerful youth.

Ichigo accepted the help up, making sure to keep Chohana steady on her hold. But before either of them could move from their location, they were enveloped in light and a sense of vertigo got them both before they simply appeared behind Ichigos group of friends.

Tatsuki instantly whirled around as she felt the spiritual pressure from the strange shop keeper and saw them appearing from a pocket of unfolding light.

She gasped at her friend's new appearance; she first noticed his new clothes, so much different from what he usually has, almost completely opposite from the regular black style he wore before in his spiritual form, with his lower-face and chest covered by bandages and a necklace of orbs hanging around his neck, with the largest one being eerily familiar. Then she saw his hair flowing in a large spiky mane, but the colors were off, there were streaks of different colors mixed in with his familiar orange hair, she pondered this until she saw his eyes.

His eyes, they were the same as she knew them, the chocolate brown orbs that she knew so well, still held the kindness and warmth she remembered, but there was a hint of complete control shining behind them that was unusual, but made her feel safe.

Then she saw a child hanging on his back, seemingly sleeping while somehow holding onto his neck to keep her from falling.

"Ichigo!" She called to her childhood friend and ran over to him, the rest of the group following her lead, calling their own forms of distress.

"Hey guys!" he called happily, with what could be interpreted as an eye-smile, to his friends. His voice had not changed, but it seemed happier than it had been in a long time.

As Tatsuki ran she raised her fist and was about to uppercut Ichigo in the jaw, but he suddenly vanished from sight causing her eyes to widen for a second, before she felt a pair of arms hold her in an embrace, lifting her slightly off the ground, and a mop of orange and color streaked hair appearing in front of her.

"Sorry for making you all worry... Suki-chan," said Ichigo in a sincerely happy, yet somewhat apologetic voice, the veins around his eyes flashing blue for just a moment.

"Idiot," the shorter black haired teen said playfully as she teasingly punched him in the gut, "Why would I be worried? You can take care of yourself" she commented with a smirk playing across her face as she looked up to see Ichigos kind smile.

Ichigo let her go and turned to his other friends, Keigo, Mizuiro, Chizuru... Kanonji and Imo- Kuramadani...

He gave a sigh of relief to see that they were all unharmed... well as unharmed you can be after an encounter with one of the strongest beings in all 4 realms (A/N, if you're wondering I'm talking about; Hell, the Human World, the Soul Society and Hueco Mundo). Ichigo looked around and saw his father lying in the rubble, some of it toppling over him, but much to his relief he was unhurt save for a few scrapes from chips of stone that flew with the wind of the battle.

He then noticed a still crying Matsumoto lying on top of an almost dead Gin. Ichigo slowly walked over to the fellow ginger blonde and kneeled beside her, a solemn look on his face. He stroked the purple locks of the childlike spirit hanging on his back, slowly waking her from her little nap on his shoulder. "Chohana... can you do anything?" the Strawberry blonde teen asked in a soft whisper to his young looking soul tenant, _"I think so..."_ she mumbled drowsily, obviously still trying to wake from her dream addled mind.

The little spirit slid off his back and sleepily walked over to the distraught woman's side and putting a hand on her shoulder to let her get to the silver-lilac haired man. She put a hand on the dying man's chest and a pulse of energy blasted into him in a brilliant display of purplish white light, engulfing the four spiritual individuals. Inside the light, Gin's body was healing the cut in his chest and building a new arm to replace the one he lost, while the Hogyoku's power flowed into him.

The light started clearing with an eerie chime, revealing the four people, one of them now sitting up with wide eyes, revealing ice blue orbs peeking out from in under his constantly squinting eyes, a look of apparent shock grazing his features. The crying beauty's face split into a happily shocked expression as she carefully embraced her beloved snake, her features calming as she held onto him tighter as tears still flowed, but tears of elating happiness instead of consuming grief.

Ichigo just smiled and let his eye veins flash a comforting blue at the scene and picked up the now sleeping form of Chohana, holding her close to himself, a sleepy smile stretched across her face as she snuggled into his chest, sighing in content sleep. The teen chuckled at the action and let her connection to the world outside his soul fade, letting her flow back into his mind.

_-Inside Ichigo's Mind-_

Shiro was laying on the side of one of the many sideway skyscrapers inside the mind of one Ichigo Kurosaki; looking into the clear sky, save for the odd sideways cloud floating by. He was just lying there, calmly enjoying being in his own thoughts for once when he felt the returning presence of Chohana, whom he could consider a little sister figure due to his instincts which he built off of his hosts own over time.

Just as his luck would predict, the sleeping little spirit rematerialized laying on his chest, curled into a cute little ball. Shiro simply smiled at the younger spirit and calmly moved her a little so she was lying in his arms as he sat up. She subconsciously gripped onto the coat of Ichigo's hollow counter-part and snuggled into his bleach white chest. He chuckled lightly.

"**Sleep well... Hana-chan"**

_-Outside Ichigo's Mind-_

Everyone around Ichigo, except the crying woman and the man holding said woman, were looking at him with questioning awe, even Urahara was stunned, _'Did he just revive him?'_ was the collective thought of everyone else.

"Ichigo... how did you...?" Keigo started, but was too confused to finish.

"How did I bring him back to life?" Ichigo decided to ask the question on everyone's minds, raising an eyebrow and his lips quirking upward under the bandages at the sight of his loud friend being absolutely speechless. Everyone just nodded.

"I was able to draw his soul back into place, thankfully his spiritual force was large enough and held onto his body for just enough time for me to fix it, then recreate his body with the help of the Hogyoku," he said as he held up the orb on his necklace, it gleaming a soft purple shade, "and that little kid you saw was the embodiment of the Hogyoku's spirit, Chohana, which now resides in my soul, along with two other spirits, Shiro; my Hollow side, and Tensa Zangetsu; my Zanpakuto," he finished.

Tatsuki just walked to him and did what many would see as uncharacteristic of her. She embraced Ichigo in a hug and leant her head onto his chest. Ichigo was confused as to what brought on this action, but hesitantly returned the embrace.

In the background, Urahara and Keigo were smirking and shot each other conspiratorial glances, while Mizuiro just smiled somewhat happily. Chizuru meanwhile looked somewhat thoughtful, thinking they looked good together like that. Chizuru, while being openly lesbian, could still appreciate the feeling of warmth from the relationship between the opposite genders, and she was happy for her friend/enemy.

"I'm happy... Ichigo," Tatsuki whispered into his chest, but Ichigo picked it up due to his extremely trained senses, "I was worried when you went off to fight that guy..." she continued as she snuggled into his chest, gripping him tighter, she sounded on the verge of tears now. "Just don't leave again..." she softly sobbed into his chest, "I wouldn't know what to do if you were gone," she cried lightly as Ichigo tightened his embrace, letting a lone tear fall.

"Sorry, Tatsuki, I won't leave again, so please don't cry," he whispered to her as he leaned down to her ear. The bandages over his face started cracking and fading away into reishi particles, stopping at his neckline as he let his chin rest on her head, rocking her back and forth to soothe her. Unbeknownst to everyone, a sliver of Ichigo's power was being unconsciously absorbed by Tatsuki as her own power was flaring out slightly from her, replenishing itself with some of Ichigo's own, almost godly power.

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**A/N, Yes, I'm ending this on a cliffy, but I needed to get this out, as I had promised my friend, not to worry, I shall pick up the pace soon and have a chappy as soon as possible... prefferably withing two weeks. And I guess a 'thank you' is in order for those who reviewed as they gave me additional will to complete this, and Special Thanks to my friend (You know who you are) for kicking me into gear for this... I actually had a third of this chapter for an entire month before he came along and saw this. And now I've kinda decided to go for one of the less used pairings within FanFiction, IchiTats, and we might get a certain cute captainless Vice-captain on this later aswell... congrats if you can figure out who... I AM making this obvious here... **


	3. Chapter 3

**Warning: Fluff will occur... don't like it? *Pulls out a staff* YOU... *Raises it with both hands* ... SHALL NOT... *Prepares to slam it into the ground* PASS! *Crushes it into the ground, repelling the haters with the awesomeness***

**Now... READ!**

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Chapter Tres: Gathering of the souls in court

Tatsuki eventually calmed down as she slept in Ichigo's arms, her emotional roller-coaster ride tiring her out immensely. Nobody noticed during all this that her spiritual presence had seemingly disappeared, much like Ichigo's.

Ichigo moved her so that she was being carried bridal style in his arms. Tatsuki sighed tiredly as she completely relaxed herself into his embrace. Ichigo walked over to where his father was unconscious. He moved his bandaged right arm slightly so that a finger was pointing at the rubble when a small amount of pure black reiryoku flowed around his finger.** "Getsukage (Moon shadow)"** Ichigo whispered as the black power suddenly lashed out and soundlessly destroyed the rubble covering the former-captain.

"Could everyone please come here?" Ichigo called to his friends and colleagues, somewhat tiredly. Everyone; except the Gin and Matsumoto, who were both lying together on a piece of concrete from a partially destroyed building, complied and walked over to him, not sure what to expect.

When everyone gathered they were enveloped in light much to everyone, but Ichigo and Kisuke's, surprise and slight panic, but before anyone could react further they appeared to a scene that was all too familiar to Ichigo.

The white sand stretched for hundreds of miles, the blank black sky only disrupted by the ever shining crescent moon over head. They were standing on top of Las Noches, the fortress of the Arrancar army. They were greeted by the sight of a battle of destructive magnitude. The roof had a gargantuan hole in it from a massive explosion; several of the towers were shattered and broken from the multiple clashes between the two forces. The monotony of the destruction was only disturbed by two people clad in white, one with raven-black hair, Uryu Ishida, the other with ginger-strawberry hair, Orihime Inoue.

The two people were startled by the sudden appearance of multiple spiritual pressures, all of them belonging to their friends. They both looked towards were they felt the pressures appear and saw a pocket of light unfolding to reveal Ichigo and the group.

Orihime and Uryu saw what they assumed to be Ichigo and were somewhat surprised as to how much his appearance had changed since they last saw him. His hair had for some reason become much longer and had blacks, reds and purples mixed in with the orange hair that now framed his face, as well as his previously black clothes were now white and purple, along with his entire chest and right arm being covered in hard white bandages. His face however was much the same, but it looked older, more mature.

Most surprising was who was in his arms. Tatsuki was just sleeping quietly in his arms and stirred lightly when she felt the air change blinking awake and looking up towards Ichigo, who had a distant look on his face. Her face lightened up red when she realized her position and how she acted before her emotions knocked her out.

She on instinct started struggling to get out of her childhood friend's hold, he thank fully noticed her little struggle and set her on her feet quickly while smiling wistfully at her. When she got her bearings she looked around and saw a head of orange hair in the distance which from the rest of the figure she concluded it was her best friend, Orihime.

"Orihime!" Tatsuki shouted as she got excited and worried as she ran at full speed to her busty friend who was doing the same. When they reached each other they gave they gave their friend a crushing hug as they squeezed the life out of the other.

"I was so worried!" Tatsuki cried into her friend's white clad shoulder, "I thought might have been killed, Orihime," she silently whispered with a strained voice as she sobbed a little at seeing her friend ok.

Ichigo was looking towards the gargantuan hole that he had created before when he went on a hollowfied rampage while fighting Ulquiorra, sadly, resulting in the raven haired Espada's death. Ichigo focused his senses around where he knew that the Arrancar faded away and he felt a small ripple of heavy energy still remaining, the last of his consciousness still resided.

Ichigo flash stepped to where he felt it and let loose a torrent of the Hogyoku's power to do his wish; bringing back Ulquiorra Schiffer, the Quarta espada.

Nobody noticed his disappearance until a bright light shone from where he now stood, as it soon engulfed him in its soft purple rays.

"Ichigo!" both Tatsuki and Orihime called out to said teen, both worried and wondering what he was doing.

Inside the light, a pale body was being recreated from nothing but the residual power of the stoic Espada. But as it was being created; instead of the former black hair, fur, etc. everything was now a white-ish green, and instead of the all-encompassing black batwings, there were feathery white-green angel wings.

And as the light faded, the face of the stoic Espada was revealed to be one of confusion as he looked around, noticing all of the figures, and his eyes fell upon a head of spiky orange hair, with a multitude of colors mixed in. and he saw the face of the owner of the hair, _'Ichigo Kurosaki', _was all he could think before the fatigue of his recreation hit him full force and he collapsed into a well-endowed chest as he faded from conscious thought.

Within a moment of seeing Ulquiorra about to collapse, he decided to have a little fun and picked up Orihime and put her in front of the formerly raven-haired Espada to catch him, which she instinctively did. And to her it felt _Nice_ to hold the unconscious Espada in her arms; While Ichigo flash-stepped beside a baffled Tatsuki, with a joyful smile on his face as he watched his busty friend and formerly black-haired enemy together.

Tatsuki was astounded at the speed at which Orihime seemingly just appeared in front of the white haired man. She then felt Ichigo appear next to her and she turned to see her friend's watching with a happy smile.

"Ichigo, why di-? wait! Why the hell can I sense you now?!" she quietly exclaimed to her friend, confused as to why she could now sense her friend's presence.

"Eh?" Ichigo smartly replied as he turned his head to look at her, "That shouldn't be possible..." he wondered as he watched Tatsuki intently and the veins around his eyes pulsed a light purple, catching Tatsuki's attention.

"I-Ichigo... y-your eyes-s..." she stuttered as she looked at him wide eyed. Ichigo brought a hand up to his eyes, "Oh, the veins... thought someone would see before..." he trailed off, taking on a thoughtful expression, _'or maybe they can't,' _Ichigo thought to himself. He turned around and looked at Urahara who was looking at the prone form of the older Kurosaki.

Ichigo flash-stepped into a blur to stand beside Urahara and instantly moved him to stand with him and Tatsuki. Urahara whirled his head around as he was moved and he looked at Ichigo. "What is it Ichigo?" he asked sounding slightly serious, then saw a wide-eyed Tatsuki and smirked, "Girlfriend problems?" he questioned teasingly, only to get a double-punch in the jaw from Ichigo and Tatsuki, both of whom were red-faced from embarrassment, followed by simultaneous silent yells of "Pervert!" from both of the embarrassed teens.

Urahara rolled on the ground for all five seconds crying about the cruelty of the world, before getting back up on his feet with a serious expression, "So what is it really Ichigo?" he asked again as the hat shadowed his eyes.

"Alright, just wanted to ask, can you see any kind of veins on my skin?" the transcendent teen asked as he held out his arm for Urahara to study. The shop owner looked over Ichigo's arm and noticed light blue lines running under his skin that he recognized from somewhere, "Well I can see a set of light blue lines going under your skin... I remember seeing something like this before, but..." he trailed off as his eyes widened slightly, remembering seeing these same lines on Ichigo's own mother. "Blut Vene..." he whispered in awe, "Ichigo... I know what this is," Urahara said as he looked up to his former pupil, eyes wide and alert.

"Then what is it?" Ichigo asked impatiently, getting annoyed with the hat-wearing man, "I can't tell you, this is your father's responsibility" said man replied in a business like tone, "I don't know why he didn't just tell you already when you were younger, but that is neither here nor there," he said in a somewhat playful manner.

"Alright, third question," Ichigo said and pointed to Tatsuki, "Can you sense her reiatsu?" he asked looking at his old mentor with a critical eye. Urahara looked puzzled for a moment before nodding and trying to feel the spiritual pressure of the young woman, and found... nothing, not a trace of her reiatsu could be felt. He blinked a few times and checked again, to once again find nothing. He looked to his pupil with an incredulous expression, "Is this some cruel illusion cooked up by Aizen?" he almost cried, "There's jus- no... Not even gonna be surprised anymore!" he said loudly as he spun in a circle for some unknown reason and then turned to his pupil again. "To answer your question, no, I can't feel anything from her except what I can see and hear at the moment," he answered with a deadpan expression.

"Ah, confirms my suspicion..." Ichigo said thoughtfully. "And what suspicion would that be Ichigo?" the former captain asked.

"Tatsuki... you absorbed some of my reiryoku when you were releasing a lot of your own... ," Ichigo started explaining, "seems your body used some of my own overflowing power to add to its own... and since you were already used to by spiritual pressure before," he paused "... all of 'this' happened... you simply accustomed yourself to my new power without thinking and can now feel it, as your power is in a similar state of transcendence, this could also be reason for you being able to fully see my veins." He finished as he drew a breath, "that sound about right, Hat'n'clogs?"

Kisuke and Tatsuki stood with dumbfounded expressions, _'since when did Ichigo get so smart?'_ they were both thinking as they looked at Ichigo. "Well... yes, that theory does seem plausible; I don't see any real holes in it, except the fact that your power actually interacting with others seems nearly impossible... "He trailed off as he eyed the Hogyoku hanging around Ichigo's neck, "But the Hogyoku might just have an unusual effect on your powers, I need to study this" the last part was mumbled to himself.

"Ichigo... when the hell did you get smart?" Tatsuki asked with a deadpan expression as Ichigo just raised an orange eyebrow and a small twitch at his lips.

"Hey, I wasn't in the top 20 on the school exam board for nothing you know," he said with a smug tone and a smirk to accompany, veins pulsing purple for a moment before returning to yellow, "I just never acted smart until now. I DO have a reputation to uphold don't I?" he asked kindly as he rubbed the back of his head with his lips splitting into a big grin that hadn't graced his face for years, while the veins around his eyes flashed a bright red, followed by blue before going back to yellow.

Ichigo then looked over to where Orihime and the new Ulquiorra were sitting. Ulquiorra was now lying with his head in Orihime's lap, sleeping peacefully and actually _smiling_, and the others had gathered around; Chizuru, as always, was trying to grope Orihime. Thankfully, Mizuiro was kind enough to hold her back from ruining the moment between the Angel and the Princess. Ichigo again smiled kindly at the scene.

"So... Suki-chan, what were you going to ask me before you started freaking out?" Ichigo asked with the smug tone back in full force. This earned him an elbow in the rib, which, while not painful, did make him wince on reflex.

"I was going to ask why you made Orihime catch that guy..." she trailed of, "but now think I see why..." she said solemnly with a wistful smile, as she watched her best friend's happily content expression as she ran her fingers through Ulquiorra's hair.

"Looks like she finally go over me," Ichigo said as he chuckled; looking over at Tatsuki, who was currently looking unhappy with him as she scowled at him. "So you actually noticed her feelings for you?" she asked, "Then why the hell didn't you act?!" she growled under her breath, a tick mark appearing on her brow.

"Because I didn't want to break her heart, until she could find someone better to love..." Ichigo trailed off, a solemn look settling on his face as he looked at Orihime, "I... I couldn't return her love... because... I think of her like a sister... in a way..." he continued hesitantly.

Tatsuki by this point had calmed down considerably, but she was frowning at Ichigo. _'Why are you so damn hard to figure out?!' _Tatsuki thought to herself, confused about her friend's behavior, _'How much did you change since you disappeared?'_

The tomboy sighed to herself, letting her anger completely evaporate for now.

It was then that a familiar group of people flew out of the hole that the Cero had created long before. It was Kenpachi, Byakuya, Rukia, and Chad being carried by Renji and Isane, and they all looked tired and worn from the long and arduous battle that had gone on below the fake sun of Las Noches.

They landed on the roof of the great fortress and walked tiredly over to the rest of the group, Chad walked as well, despite his injuries that had just been quickly patched up by Isane. Renji raised a hand in a waving motion "Hey Guys!" he called as he saw the large group of people standing around.

Ichigo turned to the new arrivals and smirked, thinking of devious way to mess with his friend and rival as he disappeared using pure speed, moving fast enough as to not cause a blur, reappearing next to his Mexican friend at the back of the group.

Ichigo poked his friend, eliciting a grunt and the turn of a head, and the strawberry blond teen held up a finger to his mouth in the universal sign for 'please be quiet' and the giant just nodded his head and smiled at seeing his best friend ok, no matter his changes.

Ichigo followed the group quietly, smirking deviously, popped up behind Renji in an instant and put the red head in a head lock, eliciting a yell of "What the Fu-!" before Ichigo proceeded to give him a one-handed noogie while grinning maniacally at the headaches this was causing his loud friend as he was yelling for him to stop, not knowing who it was, due to being unable to see his face and not recognizing his clothes.

"Ow, Ow, Sto-Ow, OW!" etc. was what Renji was yelling along with other profanities. The others around him were laughing their asses off, except the ever-stoic Chad, who was smirking at his friend's sense of humor, and Isane who was worried about the Vice-captains health, frowned at the fact that this orange haired guy somehow snuck up on them and was able to get a vice-captain in a headlock. But when she checked her spiritual senses, she drew a blank on the strawberry blonde youth; it was as if he wasn't even there. Kenpachi on the other hand was

Ichigo finally let his rival go and the red-head stumbled back before he got his bearings as he rubbed his head and looking around for his attacker and he saw the visage of the strawberry blonde teen looking back at him with an uncharacteristic grin on his face. "What the he-! What happened to you?" Renji said confusedly as his brain finally caught up with what his eyes were seeing.

Here stood a very different Ichigo from when they separated, before the war let loose in the fortress. The hair, the clothes, a majority of his physique; it had all changed!

"Well..."Ichigo started before bringing a hand to the marble of power around his neck, "I killed Aizen and the Hogyoku apparently decided that I was a more "worthy" holder of its power..." he trailed off, looking around at everyone.

Rukia stood there open mouthed a gleam of shock in her eyes at the fact that Ichigo apparently had killed the madman. The other Kuchiki had a raised eyebrow and an inquisitive glint in his eyes, while his fellow captain had an absolutely insane grin on his face and staring intently at ichigo, probably itching to fight his unwilling rival.

Chad had raised his head a little to let his hair uncover one of his eyes so he could fully see his long-time friend, while Isane had a similar expression to Rukia, but her eyes held a glint of worry.

Renji on the other had... his eyes were almost popping out of their sockets and his mouth was opening and closing, trying to formulate words before settling on being closed to save some of his dignity.

"I should probably explain "how" I did it shouldn't I?" Ichigo asked with a raised eyebrow taking in the looks on his comrades faces, "eh, I'll just show you," was all he said before disappearing to the air a few hundred meters away, with black power blazing on his arm and positioned it for a downwards swing as an ethereal black blade materialized.

He swung with a mutter of **"Mugetsu"** as a smaller version of the aforementioned attack darkened the already shadowy sky and tore apart the desert below, killing off a few hollows lingering in the forest beneath the sands, while sand now flooded the chasms below.

Ichigo breathed a sigh, as the attack still took quite a bit out of him, even if it wasn't on full blast.

Ichigo reappeared before his friends, "and that was just a weaker version of the attack that finally took him down," Ichigo said as he chuckled at his friends and rivals expressions. They were of collective awe at the sight, while Kenpachi as expected, had the largest grin anyone had ever seen on his face as he saw the utter annihilation that the attack caused.

"Ichigo... I hate you," Renji said with tears flooding from his eyes due to jealousy, "why the hell do you get so powerful!?" he sniffed as he laid face-down on the ground.

Ichigo just grinned, "Well Renji, I actually have no idea, maybe you just haven't been trying hard enough?" Ichigo teased his rival.

"I-chi-go," sounded a voice from behind ichigo followed by ominous chuckling, **"FIGHT ME!"** came the ever insane voice of the eleventh captain as the blade of his sword came down at hellish speeds, heading for Ichigo's torso.

As soon as Ichigo heard that crazy voice of his eternal tormentor calling for battle, he disappeared in a burst of speed and hid behind his red-headed friend with a look of horror on his face, "Damn you, Kenpachi, not now!" Ichigo yelled over Renji's shoulder at the battle-crazy captain.

"I think you should listen, Captain Zaraki!" Isane complained, "I don't want to have to heal you again," she said while giving the combat captain a soft glare in an imitation of her own captain. This of course had the desired effect of creeping everyone but Kenpachi out, who just huffed and put his ragged blade on his shoulder in a relaxed stance.

Renji turned to his fellow vice-captain, "Thank you Isane," he said while throwing nervous glances towards the large captain.

Ichigo sighed in relief and moved quicker than anyone could see back to where Tatsuki was standing and she covered her mouth as she was giggling uncharacteristically, "Oh, what's so funny Suki-chan?" the taller teen asked as his lips quirked a little while thinking that her giggling looked cute,_ 'Wait,where'd that come from!?"_ he thought to himself, filing the thought away for later.

"Ah, I was just thinking about how you've never shown this... _mischievous_ side of yourself... or your smart side for that matter," she mused while still chuckling to herself.

"And I never thought I'd ever see you giggle, you should do it more often, it's cute," Ichigo said with a smile while Tatsuki blushed up a storm as she turned away from Ichigo. "A-and you should smile more often... it makes you look more handsome than when you're scowling all the time," she returned, making ichigo grin at the barb and inadvertently blush at the compliment.

Urahara meanwhile was looking between the two with a smirk adorning his face, _'oh this is PERFECT blackmail material!'_ he thought as he chuckled inwardly, _'I wonder what I can make him do?'_ he mused to himself as he grinned evilly behind his past student's back.

The group of soul reapers in the meanwhile had grouped together with the others and you could hear some shouts of panic coming from the more emotional members of the newly arrived group, e.g. Renji, Rukia and Isane. Ichigo sighed and sped over to his friends and colleagues, "What's the problem?" Ichigo asked boredly.

"What do you mean is the problem!? What is he still doing alive!?" Renji exclaimed and pointed at the formerly black haired Espada, "We even felt his spiritual pressure disappear over an hour ago!" Rukia continued for her friend.

"Calm down! Geez," Ichigo sighed, "I brought him back just a few minutes ago, don't worry, the guy only followed Aizen because he had no other purpose... he even stopped being emotionless before he died, and well... he didn't deserve his fate, so I recreated him with the powers of the Hogyoku before his spiritual power faded away," Ichigo explained and looked down at the angelic Espada.

This calmed them somewhat, but they were still throwing doubtful glances at both Ulquiorra and Ichigo.

Orihime just frowned at the group of soul reapers as they were arguing over the person in her lap, _'he may be an Arrancar, and an Espada,'_ she thought, _'but he's just misunderstood'_ she thought as her frown deepened.

"But... what will we do when he wakes up?" Renji questioned, "You can't guarantee he won't attack us!" Renji said vehemently, this caused the teen princess' mood to darken as she glared at the red-headed vice-captain.

Ichigo sighed, sensing the waves of ill intent coming off of his busty friend; which somehow escaped Renji's senses, "And can you guarantee he will?" Ichigo replied with nothing but a little irritation, "No, Renji, you can't, besides..." he said as he glanced over at the irate teen, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," the teen hybrid muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Renji and a few others to hear.

Renji just tilted his head in confusion, and then glanced in Ulquiorra's direction when he noticed the person holding the espada, which was a very angry looking ginger teen. And that anger was directed at him. He shivered as the full meaning of Ichigo's words hit him and backed off from the topic.

Everyone's mood darkened for a few seconds until... "ICHI!" a blur of bubblegum pink and black crashed into Ichigo, who skidded on his back with a yelp of surprise as the pink blur giggled and rose its head and revealed it to be the ever hyper vice-captain of squad 11, Yachiru Kusajishi with a huge grin on her face and a cheerful giggle sounding from behind it.

"Hey, Yachiru!" greeted the burly captain, as he had small smile on his face, one that only came out around Yachiru having fun, a gentle smile.

"Kenny!" she squealed and jumped off of the strawberry blonde boy and back to her captains shoulder while she was still giggling.

"What took you so long?" Kenpachi asked.

"Oh, I just had to say good bye to Nemu," she said happily, "but she was being stingy and not talking" she finished with an extremely cute pout.

"The large captain just shook his head at girls antics and smiled warmly at the young girl he had taken in over a hundred years ago, that she never ceased to bring a smile, psychotic or otherwise, was surprising to many but himself.

Ichigo stepped into the middle of the group, "I think it would be best if we all started to get moving," he said in a loud and clear voice and disappeared for a split second, only to reappear the next with Tatsuki, Urahara and his father, Isshin, next to him. Isshin, still being unconscious due to fatigue, was lying on his back.

Wordlessly, Ichigo engulfed everyone in light again before anyone could react, and the next moment they were in the fake Karakura town, standing in the ruins of a random building.

Urahara looked at Ichigo, "You've got to let me study that sometime."

* * *

**A/N, Hello Guys! well... two weeks? I'm getting better at this! but anyways, does anyone seem OOC to you? it feels like it to me but whatever! My Story! My RULES! and as You've noticed, there is Fluff a plenty here! I think it will mellow out during the next two chapters, but we shall see. **

**Anyways, do I plan on giving Tatsuki powers? duh, yeah! I want her to be able to fight those damn Quincies later! And as you've guessed, the third party in the relationship is Momo Hinamori, third most adorable thing in the Bleach universe! but how do you people think I handled the Ulquiorra part of this story? it has to be better than just sticking her with Uryuu, right?**

**And bringing people back to life (or unlife as it may be) seems impossible? One word: Hogyoku! that thing is the freaking deus ex machina of the Bleachverse!**

**But now we have one location to go before we are able to do any kind of location/time skipping, so just one more chapter.**

**but anyway, Read, Follow, Favorite, Review, etc. do one, do none, it does not matter, just fave fun! Ciao! **


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